WWE today announced that Payback, which took place at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, made history as the most-watched and highest-grossing Payback event ever. This premium live event broke records in terms of viewership, ticket sales, and merchandise.
Payback Results:
- Becky Lynch def. Trish Stratus via pinfall
- LA Knight def. The Miz via pinfall
- Rey Mysterio def. Austin Theory via pinfall to retain the United States Championship
- Finn Balor & Damian Priest def. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (c) via pinfall to win the titles
- Cody Rhodes joins Grayson Waller on “The Grayson Waller Effect”
- Rhea Ripley def. Raquel Rodriguez via pinfall to retain the title
- Seth Rollins def. Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall to retain the title
WWE’s Press Release:
WWE® (NYSE: WWE) today announced that Payback, which emanated from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, became the most-watched and highest-grossing Payback in company history. The premium live event set new records for viewership, gate and merchandise.
Viewership of Payback was up 36 percent versus the previous record set in 2016. With 12,468 in attendance, it marked the largest gate ever for any Payback, up 13 percent versus the prior record set in Chicago in 2016. Payback also became the highest-grossing WWE event ever held in Pittsburgh.
In addition, Payback broke the all-time event merchandise record. In partnership with special event retail partner Fanatics, merchandise sales were up 182 percent versus the previous record set in 2017.
2023 Payback was also the most-viewed social Payback of all time with a combined 146 million social views, up 44 percent from the previous record set in 2020. The most-viewed moment across social platforms was Cody Rhodes announcing Jey Uso would be joining the Monday Night Raw roster which generated more than seven million social views across all platforms in one day.